Unable to convert XML to C# Object List - c#

I'm trying to convert the XML data to an object list, but it throws an error.
XML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<Servers>
<Server>
<ServerName>STAGING</ServerName>
<ServerIP>XXX.XXX.XX.X</ServerIP>
</Server>
</Servers>
C#
public class ServerDetails
{
public string ServerName { get; set; }
public string ServerIP { get; set; }
}
private void GetXMLData()
{
XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(List<ServerDetails>));
using (FileStream stream = File.OpenRead("D:\\Resource.xml"))
{
List<ServerDetails> list = (List<ServerDetails>)serializer.Deserialize(stream);
//Exception here
}
}
ERROR
Inner Exception : <Servers xmlns=''> was not expected.
There is an error in XML document (2,2)
I tried adding the [Serializabe] and [XMLElement] attributes to the class,
and also xmlns="http://www.example.com/xsd/ServerDetails" in the XML
but that did not help.

You have ServerDetails as your class name and in the xml the tag name is different, Try something like this.
public class ServerDetails
{
public string ServerName { get; set; }
public string ServerIP { get; set; }
}
public class ServerList
{
[XmlArray("Servers")]
[XmlArrayItem("Server", Type = typeof(ServerDetails))]
public ServerDetails[] Servers { get;set;}
}
private void GetXMLData()
{
XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(ServerList));
using (FileStream stream = File.OpenRead("D:\\Resource.xml"))
{
var list = (ServerList)serializer.Deserialize(stream);
//Exception here
}
}

I used to use XmlSerializer a lot, but I totally stopped using it because you are forced to create your object structure fitting the xml structure. That makes it hard to maintain. Also XmlSerializer has some serious memory leaks.
If you don't mind, I would suggest to switch to XElement
public IEnumerable<ServerDetails> GetServers(string file)
{
using (var stream = File.Open(file, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read))
return GetServers(stream);
}
public IEnumerable<ServerDetails> GetServers(Stream stream)
{
var root = XElement.Load(stream);
return GetServers(root);
}
public IEnumerable<ServerDetails> GetServers(XElement root)
{
foreach (var server in root.Elements("Server"))
{
yield return new ServerDetails
{
ServerName = (string)server.Element("ServerName"),
ServerIP = (string)server.Element("ServerIP"),
};
}
}
Please note that you have to reference System.Xml.Linq
For your convenience here is a test case.
[TestMethod]
public void CanReadServers()
{
var xml = "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\" ?>" + #"
<Servers>
<Server>
<ServerName>STAGING</ServerName>
<ServerIP>XXX.XXX.XX.X</ServerIP>
</Server>
</Servers>";
IEnumerable<ServerDetails> servers;
using (var stream = new MemoryStream(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(xml)))
servers = GetServers(stream).ToList();
Assert.AreEqual(1, servers.Count());
Assert.AreEqual("STAGING", servers.ElementAt(0).ServerName);
Assert.AreEqual("XXX.XXX.XX.X", servers.ElementAt(0).ServerIP);
}

Use XmlElement Notation to specify the element name.
public class Servers
{
[XmlElement("Server")]
public ServerDetails[] ServersDetails { get; set; }
}
public class ServerDetails
{
public string ServerName { get; set; }
public string ServerIP { get; set; }
}
private void GetXMLData()
{
XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Servers));
using (FileStream stream = File.OpenRead("D:\\Resource.xml"))
{
Servers list = (Servers)serializer.Deserialize(stream);
//Exception here
}
}

Related

C# Parse XML to Object and store into Database

I'm currently working on an ASP.NET MVC 4.6 application using SQL Server 2014 as a data storage.
I need to parse a XML document from an URL, transform the XML into an object and store it into the database using Entity Framework 6.
I need to parse the XML from an URL like this:
http: //api.myserver.com/notes.xml
My XML looks like this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<notes>
<note>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jane</from>
<heading>Reminder</heading>
<body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note>
<note>
<to>Doe</to>
<from>John</from>
<heading>Meeting</heading>
<body>Hello Monday!</body>
</note>
<notes>
My model class note looks like this:
public class Note
{
public string To { get; set; }
public string From { get; set; }
public string Heading { get; set; }
public string Body { get; set; }
}
My current test implementation looks like this, BUT I'm not so happy about the parsing of the XML:
namespace ConsoleApp1
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
String url = "https://www.w3schools.com/xml/note.xml";
XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
doc.Load(url);
XmlElement root = doc.DocumentElement;
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
sb.Append("<note>");
foreach (XmlNode item in root)
{
sb.Append(item.OuterXml);
}
sb.Append("</note>");
var result = Deserialize<Note>(sb.ToString());
// further processing of result using EF 6
Console.ReadKey();
}
public static T Deserialize<T>(string xmlText)
{
try
{
var stringReader = new StringReader(xmlText);
var serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T));
return (T)serializer.Deserialize(stringReader);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
throw;
}
}
}
[XmlRoot(ElementName = "note", Namespace = "")]
public class Note
{
[XmlElement("to")]
public string To { get; set; }
[XmlElement("from")]
public string From { get; set; }
[XmlElement("heading")]
public string Heading { get; set; }
[XmlElement("body")]
public string Body { get; set; }
}
}
As far as I noticed, .NET provides several approaches on how to parse XML:
XmlReader Class
XPath
XDocument
DataSet
LINQ
I was wondering, what would you use and how would u solve the parsing of the XML document from an URL using .NET and converting into an object to store it in a SQL Server DB?
Thanks for your help and consideration!!
This might help you, a serialize method and a Deserialize method.
public static string Serialize<T>(T dataToSerialize)
{
try
{
var stringwriter = new ISOEncodingStringWriter();
var serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T));
var xns = new XmlSerializerNamespaces();
xns.Add(string.Empty, string.Empty);
serializer.Serialize(stringwriter, dataToSerialize, xns);
return stringwriter.ToString();
}
catch
{
throw;
}
}
public static T Deserialize<T>(string xmlText)
{
try
{
var stringReader = new System.IO.StringReader(xmlText);
var serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T));
return (T)serializer.Deserialize(stringReader);
}
catch
{
throw;
}
}
You use the method like this:
Note result = Deserialize<Note>(xmlstring);
Note note = new Note(){...};
string convertedToXML = Serialize<Note>(note);
Just remember that you need to add some data to your note class so it can actually serialize the data:
[XmlRoot(ElementName = "root", Namespace = "")]
public class Note
{
[XmlElementAttribute("To")]
public string To { get; set; }
[XmlElementAttribute("From")]
public string From { get; set; }
[XmlElementAttribute("Heading")]
public string Heading { get; set; }
[XmlElementAttribute("Body")]
public string Body { get; set; }
}
I hope it helps :)
You can use LINQ to XML to traverse the nodes of your documents and either EF or ADO.NET to store them in the DB.
You can start with this helpful tutorial: http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/UploadFile/de41d6/learning-linq-made-easy-tutorial-1/

XmlSerializer/Deserialize in C#

I created this class where it'll append to the XML called Email Alerts h1, body and ids. However, im having trouble running this file from the start (when i call LoadFromFile), when the file does not exist - so we'll have to create a file and start logging it.
public class EMailAlert
{
public string h1 { get; set; }
public string body { get; set; }
public string idList { get; set; }
public void Save(string fileName)
{
using (var stream = new FileStream(fileName, FileMode.Create))
{
var XML = new XmlSerializer(typeof(EMailAlert));
XML.Serialize(stream, this);
}
}
public static EMailAlert LoadFromFile(string fileName)
{
if (!File.Exists(fileName))
{
var file = new FileInfo(fileName);
file.Directory.Create();
var xmlFile = new XDocument(
new XDeclaration("1.0", "utf-8", "yes"),
new XComment("Email Logger"));
xmlFile.Add(new XElement("EmailAlerts"));
xmlFile.Save(fileName);
}
using (var stream = new FileStream(fileName, FileMode.Open))
{
var XML = new XmlSerializer(typeof(EMailAlert));
return (EMailAlert)XML.Deserialize(stream);
}
}
}
When i run this code (there are no xml file - so it creates an XML file and then it throws this error {"<EmailAlerts xmlns=''> was not expected."}
Here is how the xml file looks like
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="yes"?>
<!--Email Logger-->
<EmailAlerts />
Not sure why its not sending back an empty EmailAlert when i call LoadFromFile.
You need a collectiontype for your all your EMailAlerts to be serialized as valid xml.
The following code does that. By creating a static helper class that holds a static List of all our EmailAlerts. It also has the Load and Save methods which reads and writes the file and use the property Alerts to get or store the EmailAlerts.
You can use attributes on your EmailAlert class if you want to control serialization. See this answer how you could do that.
public static class EMailAlerts
{
static XmlSerializer XML = new XmlSerializer(typeof(List<EMailAlert>));
public static List<EMailAlert> Alerts { get; private set; }
public static void Save(string fileName)
{
using (var stream = new FileStream(fileName, FileMode.Create))
{
XML.Serialize(stream, Alerts);
}
}
public static void LoadFromFile(string fileName)
{
if (!File.Exists(fileName))
{
Alerts = new List<EMailAlert>();
}
else
{
using (var stream = new FileStream(fileName, FileMode.Open))
{
Alerts = (List<EMailAlert>)XML.Deserialize(stream);
}
}
}
}
public class EMailAlert
{
public string h1 { get; set; }
public string body { get; set; }
public string idList { get; set; }
}
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
EMailAlerts.LoadFromFile("tmp.xml");
EMailAlerts.Alerts.Add(new EMailAlert{ body="foo"});
EMailAlerts.Save("tmp.xml");
}
}

XML Deserialization doesn't work

public class PersistableObject
{
public static T Load<T>(string fileName) where T : PersistableObject, new()
{
T result = default(T);
using (XmlReader reader = XmlReader.Create(fileName))
{
result = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T)).Deserialize(reader) as T;
}
return result;
}
public void Save<T>(string fileName) where T : PersistableObject
{
using (FileStream stream = new FileStream(fileName, FileMode.CreateNew))
{
new XmlSerializer(typeof(T)).Serialize(stream, this);
}
}
}
public class DatabaseConfiguration : PersistableObject
{
public string Host { get; set; }
public string Schema { get; set; }
public string Username { get; set; }
public string Password { get; set; }
}
I load the XML using the following code:
var configuration = PersistableObject.Load<DatabaseConfiguration>("Database.xml");
However, configuration's properties are null. This is Database.xml:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<DatabaseConfiguration xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" />
<Host>localhost</Host>
<Schema>chromium</Schema>
<Username>root</Username>
<Password></Password>
</DatabaseConfiguration>
They stay null for some reason and are not assigned anything. Why's that?
Your Database.xml content is incorrect, specifically its second line that closes the DatabaseConfiguration element.
Replace it with:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<DatabaseConfiguration xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" >
<Host>localhost</Host>
<Schema>chromium</Schema>
<Username>root</Username>
<Password></Password>
</DatabaseConfiguration>

How to map an object to an existing XML file in C# .NET?

I have this existing XML file serving as a template with NO data, just simple nodes... here's a sample:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<catalog>
<cd>
<title />
<artist />
<country />
<company />
<price />
<year />
</cd>
</catalog>
Now I have created a similar class for it.
public class Cd
{
public string Title { get; set; }
public string Artist { get; set; }
public string Country { get; set; }
public string Company { get; set; }
public string Price { get; set; }
public string Year { get; set; }
}
The purpose is this:
Put values on the properties of the var cd = new Cd(); object
Get the existing XML file (template) then pass the values in it (like mapping the object to the existing XML)
Transform the XML template(with values) into XSLT to become HTML
I think that's all.
How to properly do this?
Thanks a lot!
You can use serialization to achieve (1) and (2)
[Serializable]
public class Cd
{
public string Title { get; set; }
public string Artist { get; set; }
public string Country { get; set; }
public string Company { get; set; }
public string Price { get; set; }
public string Year { get; set; }
}
now in order to create an xml from an object use:
public static string SerializeObject<T>(this T obj)
{
var ms = new MemoryStream();
var xs = new XmlSerializer(obj.GetType());
var xmlTextWriter = new XmlTextWriter(ms, Encoding.UTF8);
xs.Serialize(xmlTextWriter, obj);
string serializedObject = new UTF8Encoding().GetString((((MemoryStream)xmlTextWriter.BaseStream).ToArray()));
return serializedObject;
}
in order to create an object from XML use:
public static T DeserializeObject<T>(this string xml)
{
if (xml == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException("xml");
var xs = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T));
var ms = new MemoryStream(new UTF8Encoding().GetBytes(xml));
try
{
new XmlTextWriter(ms, Encoding.UTF8);
return (T)xs.Deserialize(ms);
}
catch
{
return default(T);
}
finally
{
ms.Close();
}
}
I would create class:
class catalog
{
public CD cd {get;set;}
}
Here is serialization and deserealization helper:
public class Xml
{
public static string Serialize<T>(T value) where T : class
{
if (value == null)
{
return string.Empty;
}
var xmlSerializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T));
var stringWriter = new StringWriter();
using (var xmlWriter = XmlWriter.Create(stringWriter))
{
xmlSerializer.Serialize(xmlWriter, value);
return stringWriter.ToString();
}
}
public static T Deserialize<T>(string xml)
{
var serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T));
T result;
using (TextReader reader = new StringReader(xml))
{
result = (T) serializer.Deserialize(reader);
}
return result;
}
}
Simply call:
catalog catalogObject = Xml.Deserialize<catalog>(xmlCatalogString);
I suspect you also will need to put some attributes on properties like XmlElement(ElementName = "title") because it is case sensitive.
MSDN

Derived Class Deserialization

I have a problem with deserialization with my logic simulation program.
Here are my element classes:
public class AndGateData : TwoInputGateData
{
}
public class TwoInputGateData : GateData
{
public TwoInputGateData()
{
Input2 = new InputData();
Input1 = new InputData();
}
public InputData Input1 { get; set; }
public InputData Input2 { get; set; }
}
public class GateData : ElementData
{
public GateData()
{
OutputData = new OutputData();
}
public OutputData OutputData { get; set; }
}
public class ElementData
{
public int Delay { get; set; }
public Guid Id { get; set; }
}
And here are classes responsible for sockets:
public class InputData : SocketData
{
}
public class SocketData
{
public Guid Id { get; set; }
public SignalData SignalData { get; set; }
}
SignalData is not important here. So, I won't write it (in order to keep this question clean) here unless somebody says it is necessary.
CircuitData is very important:
[XmlRoot("Circuit")]
public class CircuitData
{
[XmlElement(typeof(AndGateData))]
[XmlElement(typeof(OrGateData))]
public List<ElementData> elements = new List<ElementData>();
public List<WireData> wires = new List<WireData>();
public void AddElement(ElementData element)
{
elements.Add(element);
}
public void AddWire(WireData wire)
{
wires.Add(wire);
}
}
Wires are not important right now.
Now, I have written some Serialization:
public class CircuitDataWriter
{
public static void Write(object obj, string fileName)
{
var xmlFormat = new XmlSerializer(typeof(CircuitData));
using(Stream fStream = new FileStream(fileName, FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write, FileShare.None) )
{
xmlFormat.Serialize(fStream,obj);
}
Console.WriteLine("Circuit saved in XML format.");
}
}
It works just like I wanted, it produces that xml document:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
-<Circuit xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
-<AndGateData>
<Delay>10</Delay>
<Id>bfee6dd7-5946-4b7b-9d0b-15d5cf60e2bf</Id>
-<OutputData> <Id>00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000</Id> </OutputData>
-<Input1> <Id>7c767caf-79a9-4c94-9e39-5c38ec946d1a</Id> <SignalData xsi:type="SignalDataOn"/> </Input1>
-<Input2> <Id>d2cad8f8-8528-4db3-9534-9baadb6a2a14</Id> <SignalData xsi:type="SignalDataOff"/> </Input2>
</AndGateData>
<wires/>
</Circuit>
But I have problem with my DESERIALIZATION. Here is the code:
public static CircuitData Read()
{
var reader = new XmlSerializer(typeof(CircuitData));
StreamReader file = new StreamReader("Circuit.xml");
var returnCircuitData = new CircuitData();
returnCircuitData = (CircuitData) reader.Deserialize(file);
return returnCircuitData;
}
Now, it deserializes my Circuit.xml to object, but this object only contains Id and Delay, it does not contain Input1, Input2 or Output. So, it is treated like Element, not like AndGate. I tried to solve it out for a day but it seems that no one has that kind of problem.
I have a suggestion for you, make the Write method generic like this and create the serializer using objectToSerialize.GetType():
public static void Write<T>(T objectToSerialize, string fileName)
{
var xmlSerializer = new XmlSerializer(objectToSerialize.GetType());
...
}
The XmlSerializer.Deserialize() method returns object, you can make your Read method generic like this:
public static T Read<T>(string fileName)
{
var serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T));
using (StreamReader file = new StreamReader(fileName))
{
return (T)serializer.Deserialize(file);
}
}
Other than that you might want to read about:
XmlInclude that is used when you serialize derived classes.
XmlArray and XmlArrayItem that are used for controlling serialization of arrays

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